


Is that you, Perfume kid ?

by Avra



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Accidental Identity Reveal, Episode: s02 Syren, F/M, Identity Reveal, Light Angst, Marinette is panicking, One Shot, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:13:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27454804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avra/pseuds/Avra
Summary: Prompt :« AU in which Chat's identity is accidentally revealed, and in her panic, Ladybug awkwardly pretends to have no idea who he is.Adrien : Ladybug, I'm so, so sorry, I-Ladybug : PERFUME KID »
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Master Fu
Comments: 3
Kudos: 65





	Is that you, Perfume kid ?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fictionalinfinity](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictionalinfinity/gifts).



> It is done.  
> The event had to be after Gorizilla, since it's the episode where we are introduced to the perfume ad. I could have just chosen the reveal in an alley, but I wanted to include a canon akuma. So the event is during Syren, where there should be the possibility that they met before Adrien transformed back into Chat Noir.

It wasn't meant to end that way. They didn't... He should be transformed, not... like this ! Alas, Ladybug could only stare at Chat Noir's civilian form – Adrien – that stared back at her.

When she discovered that she couldn't beat Syren, she went back to Master Fu, pleading to him, asking if there was a solution to their problem. After some turtle jokes that could make her partner proud, the potion had been made with the rightful ingredients. While it was placed inside test tubes, Ladybug thought about Chat Noir, waiting for her on a lonely rooftop. Her heart sank at the image of her partner, who sat alone, not knowing where she was at the moment. Everytime she learnt something new, she promised herself to let Chat Noir know as well. When she suspected Gabriel Agreste to be Hawkmoth, she met with him to share her suspicions. Even if it was clearly something that the boy didn't want to believe in, she never wanted him to be in the dark of any big information. At least when she was told that it was alright to reveal new information. Marinette could see why Master Fu didn't want to reveal too much about him and his secrets. He ran away multiple times in his life, ready to hide somewhere else if he was in danger. She only got the approval to meet him when her kwami was extremely sick, and made both of them in danger if they transformed. Therefore, hearing that Chat Noir wasn't ready to see Fu wasn't a surprise. And yet, it still hurt that she had to abandon her partner, that she saw as equal, in the dark like this.

When the potion was out of the cauldron and in a few tubes, Tikki helped transform into the water version of her suit. Fu proposed to give himself the potion to Chat Noir, Ladybug said it was okay, that she would do it herself. She didn't want to try to fight Syren alone, when her partner was waiting for Master Fu. It would certainly take time for him to transform into the water version, and it would better if they have a strategy before going under water. Syren seemed to be in her element in the water and they weren't used yet to power-up.

« Ladybug, are you sure ? » Master Fu asked, unsure.

« I'm sure, Master. » Aquabug answered, smiling when the old man put a cork on the test tube. « I'm the only one that knows where Chat Noir is at the moment. I won't make you go to him when you think he's not really to meet you yet. Besides, you need to prepare every potion that we may need in the future. I'm going back to Chat Noir and let him know that we find a solution for fighting Syren. »

After a nod of Master Fu, Aquabug jumped back into the water that drown Paris. It took a few minutes to get use to the new power, to not instinctively grab her yo-yo to breath under water, but it was so easy now to swim and be prepared to fight at the same time. When she came back to the rooftop where she knew Chat Noir was waiting for her, she first didn't bother to look at him. She needed to make sure that the precious content of the tube didn't spill on the trip.

« Chat Noir » Aquabug called, her head out of the water « Master and I found a solution. All we need to do is to - »

Her voice died down when her bluebell eyes met a familiar pair of forest eyes, not surrounded anymore by a black mask. _Adrien_ was there, instead of _Chat Noir_ , his mouth open like he stopped himself to scream and couldn't move. While she couldn't stop staring at that beautiful face that she knew by heart with how much posters were in her room, Adrien seemed to awoke from his stupor. He let his hand that threatened to take off his ring slip its grip on the miraculous. While Adrien looked at this new version of Ladybug like she was a mermaid that came out of the sea to seduce him to jump into the water, Plagg was silently looking from his holder to the girl that still didn't move. Even if it made Adrien happy to hear that Plagg didn't want to have another holder than him, it still hurt that the boy even had the idea to renounce the black cat miraculous. The kwami cursed mentally the old guardian to even think that it was a good idea to only talk with the bug. However, his musing was interrupted by the voice of the young boy next to him.

« Ladybug. I... » Adrien started, scratching his neck, unsure of what to say. Ladybug arrived at the worst moment, just when he was ready to renounce being Chat Noir. « I'm so, so sorry, I- »

In her numb state, the heroine jumped on the rooftop where he was, walking near to make sure it wasn't a trick. Yes, it was Adrien in front of her, his wide green eyes looking at her, terrified. In a pure moment of panic, she pointed a finger at him and said the only thing that came to mind.

«PERFUME KID ! » Aquabug screeched.

Adrien blinked once, twice, then a small smile creeped on his face, the depth of his eyes showing his confusion. It wasn't like it was the first time they met, even if their interactions were always short. Ladybug may have saved him a couple of times when he was a civilian but compared to how much people she helped in a month, it wasn't much to make it memorable. And yet, she was sometimes shy and had messed with her words a few times when he saw her as Adrien. Did she feel awkward to meet a celebrity who had his face plastered all around Paris ? Maybe she had a celebrity crush on him ? Nevertheless, with only a look at his partner's face, he could understand that it was a shock for her, as it was for him. So he tried his best to make the situation less uncomfortable for both of them.

« It's Adrien. » The boy reminded her.

« Yes ! I knew that ! I wanted to see if you knew that. Not that you wouldn't ! Um...uh... »

Good. Really smooth. Now she couldn't even talk normally around him. Marinette thought that knowing that Adrien was her dork of a partner would make it easy for her to use words in the right order but it seemed that it didn't help much. She only wanted to go back under water and scream. With a quick move, she put the tube in his hands, before retreating back, making sure that there was a good distance between them. The way she acted reminded Adrien of Marinette but the moment his mind started to go that way, it stopped before the idea could be even accepted as a possibility.

« Here ! Uh, it's water that Fu – no ! – the power-up to transform ! You need to make your kwami drink it and you'll be able to... Um... »

« I'll be able to transform into something like you ? » Adrien finished, looking back at Aquabug's suit. He couldn't stop smiling just by looking at her frantic hand movements every time she talked.

« NO ! I mean, yes ! » The girl said, recoiling at her own words, his eyes on her only increasing her panic « You'll be able to swim under water. »

« Oh man... I hate transformation. » Plagg grumbled, still ready to drink the potion.

While Adrien let Plagg drink the potion, Marinette's mind was going through past events, where she couldn't help herself reversing the roles during past events.

Chat Noir in class, taking notes.

Adrien who called his cataclysm to end the battle.

Chat Noir during a photoshoot.

Adrien ran and jumped across rooftops.

Chat Noir saying that she's his friend.

Adrien said that he loved her.

Chat Noir alone in that prison that he called his house.

Adrien's lips on hers during Dark Cupid.

Chat Noir finally being able to make friends and go to school.

Adrien jumping into the fray to be her shield.

« I'm sorry Ladybug. » Adrien's voice echoed, a little muted by her own musing.

« Wha-What ? »

« I shouldn't have try to renounce the black cat miraculous. I couldn't handle it anymore. It felt like I was thrown to the side. It's always you who gets to choose the temporary holders, who met the guardian. I know you are the strategist that get the plan to save the day but... I don't want to feel like no one tells me anything. »

« You... Wanted to renounce being Chat Noir ? »

Adrien, now Aquanoir, could only nod, looking at the tiles of the roof. What he didn't expect was to feel red covered hands taking his hands in a gentle hold. Once again, he was mesmerized by her soft and kind eyes, that couldn't even look at his face without blushing.

« I never wanted to make you feel like everyone kept you in the dark. I... Master Fu didn't think that you were ready yet but I told him you were. » Aquabug whispered, fearing that if she said it louder, she would start to say something stupid again. « I don't want to renounce being Chat Noir. You're my partner and I don't – you – no one can take your place. You're gor – I mean – you're perf – You're amazing and I don't know if I could be Ladybug without you. »

« Aren't you... Disappointed ? » Adrien dared to ask « For me being just a weird model, behind the mask and the puns ? You would have thought that the sunshine boy liked to joke around and save Paris in his free time ? There are high chances that you don't even know me. And now you won't even see me as a good partner, when I almost abandoned you in the middle of an akuma attack.»

« No, of course I'm happy to know it's you ! I know how it feels to... » The heroine answered, ready to make him understand how important he was in their duo. No matter who Chat Noir was, even more than she knew it was the love of her life that often belittled himself, she was ready to make sure that heard what she thought about him. « I know how it feels when you think that you aren't fit to be a hero anymore. How you think that the other hero would be better without you at their sides. But you stopped me before I thought too much about it. You shattered my fears, back at our fight with Stoneheart. It was _you_ who let me see that it was possible for me to be the hero I am now. So let _me_ help you this time. » Aquabug declared, taking a deep breath before talking again. « You are Chat Noir. One of the saviours of Paris. My partner, my other half. It's just about the danger of letting a ladybug holder without a black cat holder active as well. It's about _you_ being out of... All this. I can't do this without you, and I will stop being Ladybug if you aren't by my side. » Ladybug moved back, showing her fist to Chat Noir, a determined look on her safe. « So let's fight that akuma, as the perfect duo that protects Paris against Hawkmoth. Together. »

Chat Noir looked in awe between the girl's face and her fist. After blinking away a few tears, he placed his fist against hers, a dazzling smile placed on his face.

« Together. »

* * *

i joined an awesome MLB discord (link [here](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) ) where I found a lot of wonderful people there. One of them created a prompt that I couldn't resist.

**Author's Note:**

> The exact prompt made by fictionalinfinity was :  
> « AU in chick Chat's identity is accidentally revealed, and in her panic, Ladybug awkwardly pretends to have no idea who he is.  
> Adrien : Ladybug, I'm so, so sorry, I-  
> Ladybug : PERFUME KID »
> 
> « Even funnier since Adrien has interacted with Marinette as Ladybug several times.  
> Adrien : « It's Adrien. »  
> Ladybug : « Yes ! I knew that ! I wanted to see if you knew that. Not that you wouldn't ! Um...uh... »


End file.
